Todd Rundgren’s Me/We tour is one for the faithful. And it’s all about the music. 

The typically talkative, and usually hilariously opinionated, musician said nothing beyond thank you and quick band introductions at the end of his April 24 gig inside the Andrew J. Brady Music Center in Cincinnati. He instead let a career-spanning collection of deep tracks handle communications with his audience. 

In a nod to any casual fans who may have attended, Rundgren began the encore with the first half of “I Saw the Light” which segued into the bridge of “Can We Still be Friends?,” which in turn led into the coda of “Hello it’s Me.” The dramatic fan favorite “The Last Ride” and “A Dream Goes on Forever” ended the gig. 

The tour finds long-dormant tracks such as 1995’s subdued “Beloved Infidel” and novelties like 2004’s “Stood Up” returning to the setlist for the first time in ages. “Down with the Ship,” Rundgren’s 2022 joint with Rivers Cuomo, meanwhile, is just getting its sea legs and the goofy shanty works well alongside the eclectic sonic smorgasbord that found Rundgren conducting synth strings and soprano sax with a baton on the balladic “Kindness” from 1991, playing a searing guitar solo on 2000’s “Buffalo Grass” and proving his compositional prescience on the now entirely relevant rap-rocker “Fascist Christ (1993), which featured scratching from guitar strings rather than a turntable. 

Backed by five long-time compatriots – bassist Kasim Sulton and keyboardist Gil Assayas from Utopia; former Tubes drummer Prairie Prince; Bobby Strickland on keyboards, woodwinds and programming; and guitarist Bruce McDaniel – Rundgren played 24 songs over 125 minutes, as the black-clad band was bathed in white, red, blue, green and yellow hues from a generous light show that augmented the selections perfectly. 

Strong visuals notwithstanding, sublime audio, from the band and the venue’s sound system, was the draw. Culling material from more than one-dozen solo and Utopia albums connecting 1972’s Something/Anything? to 2022’s Space Force, Rundgren covered a diverse stylistic template, as he switched from lead guitarist to band leader who paced the lip of the stage sans instrument and tossed in some EDM in the form of “Flesh & Blood” from 2015’s Global for good measure.

The show began with 1974’s ethereal “I Think You Know.” Rundgren then celebrated the Utopian nature of his fanatical followers on that band’s 1985 dance track “Secret Society” before showing off his grimy guitar and gritty growl on 2008’s “Weakness.” 

The initial triptych set the tone as Rundgren, 75, used his deepened voice to bring the songs into the present while the band provided the backgrounds that tied them to their respective eras. To that end, Sulton and McDaniel joined Rundgren around a single mic for the a cappella “Honest Work,” which hushed any grabbers in the house, and “Hawking” came off as a metaphysical worship service thanks to the veritable choir and a soaring saxophone solo from Strickland. The passage of time seemed to be a loose theme of the Me/We tour as Rundgren plumbed his discography for that explore the unknowable to come up with such tracks as “Lost Horizon” (1985), “Afterlife” and “God Said” from 2004 and “Worldwide Epiphany,” the 1993 celebration of finally figuring it all out.